open/close all folders
Japanese Empire Royal Family
The Crown Prince
Akihito
Played By: Daisuke Tsuji
The Crown Prince of the Japanese Empire and heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne.
- Historical Domain Character: Like in real life, he's the son of Emperor Hirohito.
- No Name Given: His name is not mentioned, presumably to enforce No Celebrities Were Harmed without resorting to change his name, since Akihito is still alive.
The Crown Princess
Michiko Shōda
Played By: Mayumi Yoshida
The Crown Prince's wife.
- Historical Domain Character: Like in real life, she's the wife of Akihito.
- Iron Lady: Takes a much more active role in the administration of the Pacific States following the assassination of Minister Tagomi. Hardliners in the Imperial Army, especially Yamori, resent what they view as meddling, but she (in a very opaque and passive-aggressive way) makes it clear that she doesn't give a fuck if they like it or not.
- No Name Given: Her name is not mentioned, presumably to enforce No Celebrities Were Harmed without resorting to change her name, since Empress Michiko is still alive.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Is of a higher rank than the military due to being part of the Imperial Family, and she advocates for the Japanese removing themselves (at least militarily) from the West Coast.
Japanese Empire Officials
Kotomichi
Kotomichi
Played By: Arnold Chun
A Japanese Trade Ministry employee and the aide of Tagomi in the JPS.
- Dimensional Traveler: Though he seems to have found one that he likes.
- Enigmatic Minion: Despite his position as an underling of Tagomi, it becomes apparent from his burn scars and his enigmatic smile when Tagomi disappears into the alternate universe that he has his own secrets that tie him to the events of the show. This is confirmed when he admits to Tagomi that he originates from an alternate universe where the bombing of Nagasaki took place.
- Every Scar Has a Story: Juliana notices his wrist is covered with burn scars. He got them in an alternate timeline (possibly our own) during the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, where his entire family was killed. In his grief, he found a way to travel to a timeline where his family survived due to Japan winning the war.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Given his position as a Trade Ministry employee in the JPS.
- Number Two: Is this to Tagomi in the Trade Ministry.
- Undying Loyalty: To his Benevolent Boss Tagomi.
General Onoda
IJA Rikugun-Taishō Hidehisa Onoda
Played By: Tzi Ma
Commander of Japanese military forces in the Pacific States.
- Dirty Old Man: He's fond of visiting a "hostess" (escort) bar. Kido uses this to get Onada really drunk so he will sign an order without really looking at it.
- Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age: He generally walks around with a holstered katana, the common practice of Imperial Japan army officers.
- Jerkass: Onada's a very overbearing asshole who treats people very condescendingly.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: While Tagomi and Kido seem more loyal to the general idea of Japan, Onada talks more of the Emperor itself as his guiding deity and driving force.
- Not Afraid to Die: Onada's very clear on the fact he's likely going to die in the incoming war against Germany, but he's okay with it, in keeping with the contemporary interpretation of bushido.
- Pet the Dog: Onada may be a dick, but he does make an effort to be friendly to Kido and compliments his abilities from time to time.
Admiral Inokuchi
IJN Admiral Inokuchi
Played By: Eijiro Ozaki
Commander-In-Chief of the Combined Fleet, appointed the new overall commander of Japanese military forces in the JPS since the headquarters bombing.
- Berserk Button: Normally calm and composed even when angry, but he gets absolutely furious when someone (like Yamori) questions his devotion to the Empire.
- Cool Ship: His flagship is a Yamato-class superbattleship with a postwar refit. Much like the real-life refit of the US Navy's Iowa-class, she's ditched her 25mm AA guns and had her seaplane-handling spaces replaced with a helicopter flight deck.
- Face Death with Dignity: Was prepared to do this when he was framed for collaborating with the Black Communist Rebels and Tagomi's murder.
- Interservice Rivalry: Clashes with the Imperial Army's hawkish senior leadership in Season 4, mirroring the real-life political rivalry between Admiral Yamamoto and Tojo's hardliners on the eve of WWII.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Instructs Kido to rein in the reprisal killings and resort more to "soft power" and "hearts and minds" efforts to bring the population over to their side.
General Yamori
IJA Rikugun-Taishō Yamori
Played By: Bruce Locke
Onada's replacement as commander of IJA forces in the JPS, but junior to Admiral Inokuchi.
- Driven to Suicide: He hangs himself after hearing the Emperor's speech about abandoning the Pacific States while imprisoned.
- Jerkass: Onada was a prick, but he also had a soft side and liked to unwind with booze and strippers. Yamori, on the other hand, is just a straight-up asshole.
- Personal Effects Reveal: The photos of his two sons are seen discarded on the floor of his cell after he commits suicide.
- Red Baron: Is well known to the resistance as well as the general public as "The Butcher of Manchuria" for his rather brutal anti-guerrilla actions in China.
- Sunk Cost Fallacy: He personally believes that the Empire should hold on to the Japanese Pacific States simply because of the enormous amount of men and resources they had already spent maintaining their American colony for more than two decades, even when it is now presently clear that resistance efforts are clearly overstretching their limits and that even if they were to put in a monumental effort to hold their ground, it would be a Pyrrhic Victory at best. When part of the cost is revealed to have included the lives of his two sons, it becomes a lot more understandable, yet no less tragic and senseless.
- Warhawk: Yamori advocates terror and violence to deal with the BCR and to keep the JPS in line.
Kempeitai
Yoshida
Sergeant Hiroyuki Yoshida
Played By: Lee Shorten
A non-commissioned officer of the Kempeitai stationed in their San Francisco office, and a subordinate of Kido.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He doesn't like the idea of Kido's plans to cover up the Nazi Reich's involvement in attempting to murder the Crown Prince. This is partially due to the fact that Kido will have to commit seppuku to preserve the cover-up.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Yoshida saves Kido from gunfire and then an explosion, but dies in the process.
- Number Two: To Kido in Kempeitai operations.
- Only Friend: Kido's only true confidant. His death really shakes Kido.
- Pet the Dog: Yoshida finds Ed and Childan locked in the freezer during the Kempeitai's raid on the Yakuza bar. He obviously recognizes Ed from his previous arrest for the assassination attempt on the Crown Prince, though he's also one of the few who know that the real shooter was a Waffen-SS officer. After a moment's hesitation, he deduces that the two are somehow in over their heads with the Yakuza and certainly not involved in the sale of Grasshopper films to the Nazis, and lets them go.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Though he's part of one of the most notoriously-brutal State Sec organizations in history, Yoshida never displays any kind of sadism. He will still break your jaw with a rifle stock or lock your kids in a gas chamber, but he won’t get off on doing it.
- Rabid Cop: Investigates any subversive activities in the JPS, with all the brutality necessary.
Nakamura
Sergeant Nakamura
Played By: Akie Kotabe
A half-Japanese non-commissioned officer of the Kempeitai stationed in their San Francisco office.
- Category Traitor: He sells out the Japanese because he considers himself white rather than Japanese. Plus his mom was a Caucasian American.
- Replacement Goldfish. He's Yoshida's replacement as Kido's right hand.
- The Mole: He's selling information to the Yakuza and the Nazis.
- Number Two: To Kido in Kempeitai operations.
Corporal Kido
Gochō (Corporal) Toru Kido
Played By: Sen Mitsuji
Chief Inspector Kido's oldest son, an IJA enlisted serviceman and veteran of the Empire's brutal counterinsurgency campaign in China.
- Calling the Old Man Out: When his father tries to give him a pep talk about duty, Toru angrily replies that he had a duty as a father, but was never there to do it. Then he declares, from his own firsthand experience, that Japan's empire is collapsing, which gets an I Have No Son! response.
- Drowning My Sorrows: He tries to drown his demons in liquor, but it predictably makes things worse.
- In the Blood: Serving in the Japanese Imperial Army and the Kempeitei, like his father. Unlike his father, Toru is not able to hide his conscience behind a My Country, Right or Wrong mentality.
- Medal of Dishonor: Recieved a medal for his actions in Manchuria, but it evidently involved some kind of atrocity. Whatever it was, Toru is so ashamed of it that he becomes physically ill just from pinning it on his uniform.
- Punch-Clock Villain: He was distraught from Just Following Orders in Manchuria, including participating in atrocities and getting a Medal of Dishonor for it. It haunts him even after the war, causing him to express his disillusionment with the Empire even after its war victory and his and his father's servitude for it.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Toru's combat experience against Chinese rebels (which presumably includes atrocities committed by the Japanese Army) has left him with a long list of issues. He becomes quite distressed when the Kempeitei officer leading his detail beats a prisoner nearly to death.
Pacific States residents
Arnold
Arnold Walker
Played By: Daniel Roebuck
A resident of San Francisco, he is Juliana Crain's step-father and Trudy Walker's father in name, but unknowingly not her biological father. He secretly works as a senior staffer in the JPS government's wiretapping and audio surveillance department.
- Les Collaborateurs: He spies on his own people on behalf of the Japanese Empire.
- I Did What I Had to Do: He repeatedly insists this; that he's worked for the Japanese authorities for 16 years to provide for his family, and to shield and protect them from the Kempeitai. It didn't help Trudy.
Laura
Laura Crothers, neé Frink
Played By: Christine Chatelain
Frank Frink's sister.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Her death sparks Frank's anti-Japanese occupation thoughts, which includes trying to assassinate the Crown Prince.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Laura and her two children die in the same episode they are introduced.
Mark
Mark Sampson
Played By: Michael Gaston
A friend of Frank and secret Jew.- Old Soldier: A US Army vet who fought in WWII and initially joined the Resistance, he eventually gave it up to provide for his children and try to keep his religion and culture alive in secret.
- The Remnant: Both a Jew and a former US Soldier.
Gina
Gina
Played By: Tiio Horn
A hostess at Okamura's bar. She strikes a relationship of sorts with Inspector Kido.
- Platonic Prostitution: Kido hires her services, but only so she can serve as his confidant.
Kasoura
Paul Kasoura
Played By: Louis Ozawa Changchien
A wealthy lawyer for the Yakuza and collector of pre-war Americana.
Kitty
Kitty Owens
Played By:
A fellow bus passenger that Juliana meets on the way to the Neutral Zone.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The theft of the films carried by Juliana led to her arrest by Kempeitai soldiers, which "clears" Frank of any wrongdoing. This was also the reason why Frank had began to harbor anti-Japanese occupation thoughts.
The Yakuza
Okamura
Taishi Okamura
Played By: Hiro Kanagawa
A Yakuza oyabun living in the JPS, he owns legitimate businesses in the occupied territories.
- Affably Evil: Okamura is very polite and soft-spoken, even as he's threatening to kill people. Even with Kido, who explicitly hates his guts and is trying to bring him down, he's always genuinely courteous.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: He offers to give Kido information on the actual assassin who shot the Crown Prince.
- As Long as There Is Evil: A more mundane form. He observes that organized crime cannot be destroyed, like light cannot destroy the shade.
- The Don: A very classic Yakuza one, with suit and polite manners.
- Playing Both Sides: He provides information for both the Japanese Kempeitai and the Nazi SS. Unfortunately, his association with the latter gives Kido justification to kill him and his men.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Regardless of whether he's in his office on the docks, in a dark alley, or at his criminal front, he's always wearing a fancy suit.
